EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

SHAKESPEARE CLUB,

November 22, 1826.

JOHN FAVELL, ESQ. IN THE CHAIR.

THE Eighth Anniversary of this Club was held on the 22d of November, 1826, at the Angel Inn.Soon after five o'clock, the President, John Favell, Esq. attended by the Stewards and Vice Presidents, entered the room. On the right and left of the worthy Chairman were M. M. Middleton, Esq. of Leam; James Rimington, Peter Brownell, and Benjamin Sayle, Esqrs., and other patrons of the drama.

66

At half-past six the cloth was removed, and " Non nobis, Domine!" was given by Messrs. Larkin, De Camp, and Chapman.

The Chairman then rose, and said,-" Since you have buckled fortune on my back to bear her burthen, whether I will or no, I must have patience to endure the load;" for indeed, Gentlemen, you have placed me on an eminence; you have elected me to an office of high honour and great responsibility; and however inadequate may be to the task, it will now be my earnest desire to perform the duties of it to the best of my poor ability:

I

but when I reflect on the great talent which has on several occasions preceded me in this Chair, I may well stand abashed, for "I am no orator, as they have been; but, as you know me well-a plain blunt man—that love my friends, and that they know full well-for I have neither wit nor words, nor worth, action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech to stir men's blood; I only speak right on, and tell you that which you yourselves do know." However, to use the words of a worthy predecessor in office, "I'll do my best." Proceed we now to the business of the day, and the first toast that I shall have the honour to propose to you, is the King; he has now reigned over a loyal and affectionate people for nearly seven years, and I think I speak the public sentiment, when I say, that, in the main, the affairs of his Majesty's Government have been conducted on principles of liberal and enlightened policy; that

"Neither prince nor peasant has cause to say,

Heaven shorten George's happy reign one day."

The King. Three times three.

The Chairman then gave

The Duke of York, and the rest of the Royal Family. Three times three.

The Chairman.-Gentlemen, when we take a review of the transcendent genius, the wonderful talents, and the perfect acquaintance with human nature, which distinguish the works of the immortal Bard whose memory we are this day met to celebrate, we cannot but be filled with astonishment and admiration; and we cannot but offer to his memory our full meed of applause. Who that has read the works of Shakespeare with attention, can have failed finding in them many lessons of virtue

and morality, such as lead us from nature up to nature's God: witness that beautiful passage :—

"The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

And all which it inherits, shall dissolve;

And like the baseless fabric of a vision,

Leave not a wreck behind!"

What a most excellent sermon in a very few words, on the perishable nature of worldly possessions! How finely the undue advantages of wealth and power are depicted in the tragedy of Lear :

"Plate sin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;
Clothe it in rags, a pigmy straw doth pierce it."

And again:

"Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear;
Robes and furred gowns hide all."

But to make quotations from Shakespeare would be an useless task. This, however, I will assert, that whoever will read the plays of Shakespeare, and study them with attention, cannot fail, from their perusal, to become both a wiser and better man. It is said that there are blemishes in them: there are, and there are likewise spots in the I will then, Gentlemen, propose to you

sun.

The immortal Memory of Shakespeare.-(Great applause.)
SONG "The Mulberry Tree,"—Mr. Larkin.

The Chairman then said, that he had great pleasure in proposing the health of a Nobleman who had been one of the greatest benefactors to the town of Sheffield, and whose principles did honour to his high situation—

The Duke of Norfolk.

The Chairman.-The next toast which I shall propose, is one which I have no doubt you will drink with great pleasure. The amusements of the theatre, we think in

nocent, rational, and in many instances highly instructive, and therefore partake of them without hesitation. But you are aware that there are others who denounce them as sinful and unchristian-like. Now, Gentlemen, could this character of the drama be sustained, I, for one, would immediately relinquish both the theatre and the Shakespeare Club; but I am convinced that those who make such charges are mistaken. They are, I doubt not, sincere ; but they look upon the amusements of the theatre with a jaundiced and prejudiced eye, and not through a true medium. I sincerely believe, that if you compare play-goers, in all the relative and social duties of life, with those who, from principle, abstain from the theatre, they, namely we, members of this Club, will be found to be as good fathers, as good husbands, as good neighbours, and, in fact, as good men as those who, from conscientious motives, differ from us. For the object of

the stage, "both at the first and now, is to hold, as it were the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own features, vice her own image, and the very age and body of the time its form and pressure." I shall, therefore, have great pleasure in proposing to you

Success to the Drama. Three times three.

DUET—“ Tell me where is Fancy bred ?”—Mr. Larkin and Mr. De Camp.

The Chairman then gave the memory of an accomplished gentleman, and the greatest actor that ever appeared upon a British stage, who was the friend and associate of the most talented men of his time-

David Garrick.

The Chairman.-I shall now request you to drink the health of one of the very best men in the world,whose benevolence to the town of Sheffield, and kind

ness on all occasions, is almost without a parallel; and who, in conferring an obligation, does it in such a way as to make himself appear to be the obliged party; whose public character too is in full accordance with his private virtues

The truly venerable and venerated Earl Fitzwilliam.-Applause.
SONG "Auld Lang Syne."—Mr. Larkin.

The Chairman.-Gentlemen, in noticing the productions for the stage, I am free to admit that there are passages in some of them, which would be offensive to the refined ears of a modern audience; for "where is the palace whereinto foul things intrude not ?" But those pieces, chiefly produced during the profligate reign of Charles II., and some of them in the early part of the last century, are now seldom represented, and never without careful revisal. The same objection, namely, coarseness of language, would hold good of other books as well as plays, even religious ones, which were written at a distant period. Modern dramas are, in general, free from offensive phrases; and many of them, both tragedies and comedies, inculcate the principles of pure morality, and are often the means of exciting the most virtuous emotions; since "guilty creatures, sitting at a play, have by the very cunning of the scene, been struck so to the soul, that presently they have proclaimed their malefactions."After all, managers have a control over their respective theatres and have the power of preventing any thing of an improper nature from being represented. I will, therefore, propose to you—

The health of Mr. De Camp; and may the Sheffield Theatre be at all times a school of morality.

Mr. De Camp.-Mr. President, Vice-Presidents, and Gentlemen.—In rising to thank you for the honour con